Nizmoose
Well-Known Member
I'll throw in my 2c I enjoy keg priming and conditioning for a few reasons: Firstly it sort of forces me to wait for the beer to mature a bit and thus I dont finish a keg of green beer that really hasn't come into its own yet. Secondly I only have a small keg set-up with a 400g CO2 tank so the savings made in CO2 by priming is worth it for me. I also like the idea of doing something a little more traditionally I suppose in the sense of keeping the carbonation natural (until serving of course) but that reason is a completely personal preference thing and I don't think there's any reason to consider it unless you want to. I'd suggest giving a few different methods a try and see what works best for you and what you prefer. Hooking up to serving pressure will be quicker than priming, but I wouldnt be drinking it as soon as it had carbed anyway I dont think.
The way I see it, green beer going into a fridge straight away wont mature and round out as much as if its given a prime and a week or two at 25C, but if your beer tastes awesome out of the fermenter who cares
If you do want to have a go at keg priming depending on how carbed you like your beers I believe it was Stu who mentioned that coopers prime their kegs (yes they naturally carb and condition their kegs) at 5g/L so thats what I use and it gave me good results. Using keg priming calculators has always underdone the carbonation for me. I also figure if I'm on the high side priming its easier to bleed some head pressure than to add some before the CO2 is hooked up.
The way I see it, green beer going into a fridge straight away wont mature and round out as much as if its given a prime and a week or two at 25C, but if your beer tastes awesome out of the fermenter who cares
If you do want to have a go at keg priming depending on how carbed you like your beers I believe it was Stu who mentioned that coopers prime their kegs (yes they naturally carb and condition their kegs) at 5g/L so thats what I use and it gave me good results. Using keg priming calculators has always underdone the carbonation for me. I also figure if I'm on the high side priming its easier to bleed some head pressure than to add some before the CO2 is hooked up.
